Apply to be the Rhode Island Youth Poetry Ambassador!

Rhode Island Poet Laureate, Tina Cane, and the Rhode Island Center for the Book, at the Rhode Island Council on the Humanities, are partnering to launch the Rhode Island Youth Poetry Ambassador initiative. This program will establish a youth poetry advocate position to be filled by a high school student (grades 9-12) who lives in Rhode Island. The 2018 application period takes place between January 2nd and February 1st.

This initiative is designed to bring more poetry directly to our state’s youth and to inspire young people through example. Just as the State Poet Laureate position affirms Rhode Island’s support of poetry, the Youth Poetry Ambassador is meant to validate and support the creative potential of our young people.

RI Poet Laureate, Tina Cane, will choose the winner in a submissions process along
with poets Sussy Santana and Sawako Nakayasu, who will serve as this year’s guest
judges. The state’s first Youth Poetry Ambassador will be announced in early April 2018,

National Poetry Month
A celebration and group reading will take place in late April 2018 at the State House
Library and will be free and open to the public.
The selected Youth Poetry Ambassador have the following opportunities–contingent
upon the student’s ability and availability: